{
  "abstract": "The accumulation of microswimmers near walls has been studied for decades. While hydrodynamics and single-cell kinematics are well-explored, the role of cell-cell interactions remains understudied. However, in realistic, crowded environments such as the human gut, these interactions can be just as crucial. Here, we demonstrate that they actively weaken bacterial surface accumulation. Analysis of entrapped cell tracks reveals that crowding enhances orientational fluctuations, which increase the effective rotational diffusion and facilitate wall escape. A minimal model shows that this collective effect is equivalent to raising the system’s effective temperature with density.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, Anhui, China",
    "Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China",
    "School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 7,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Yaocai Liu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Rui He",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-8597-9091"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Da Wei",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6226-0639"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Longfei Li",
      "orcid": "0009-0006-3701-5873"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Mingcheng Yang",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8742-9277"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Junhua Yuan",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6437-0655"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Yi Peng",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2171-3475"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6s2nvk6vqg3j9.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1073/pnas.2536051123",
  "fulltext_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13732240/",
  "id": "6s2nvk6vqg3j9",
  "issns": [
    "0027-8424",
    "1091-6490"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2536051123",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC-ND 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "0"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Biophysics and Computational Biology"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Physical Sciences"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3104|Micro and Nano Robotics"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7224599485",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": "PMC13732240",
  "pmid": "42956025",
  "published": "2026-10-29",
  "publisher": "National Academy of Sciences",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6s2nvk6vqg3j9.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-08T12:22:16Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13732240",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2536051123"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "openalex:3104|Micro and Nano Robotics",
      "subfield": "condensed-matter"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Crowding limits relative bacterial surface accumulation with density-induced effective heating",
  "title_text": "Crowding limits relative bacterial surface accumulation with density-induced effective heating",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-08T12:22:16Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6s2nvk6vqg3j9",
  "venue": "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America",
  "versions": []
}